Girl und Panzer: Jungen und ihre Panzer
by Twitchy1414
Summary: Edward Lewis, a Welsh boy at the International Boys Academy for Troubled Learners, has always liked Tankery. There is just one small problem, Tankery is a girls sport...or is it?
1. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

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(This Fan Fiction does not fully follow the rules of Tankery, but is more of a what if story about a rag tag group of misfits who want to do what people say they will never be able to do to simply prove that they are good for something.)

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 **"On the eve of this great adventure, I send my best wishes" -Bernard Montgomery**

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Edward scribbled in his note book, putting the finishing touches on a drawing he had been working on all class. He clutched the book for a moment as he felt the room tilt to the left. He sighed and went back to his drawing. He drew a small smoking pipe in the mouth of a French man standing next to a St Chamond. His teacher was drawling on about something Edward couldn't care to learn. Edward glanced at his watch and groaned. The hands ticked by like a snail in molasses. He heard the teacher sigh and Edward slammed his book close. Edward looked up and saw his teacher looking right at him.

"Seeing as Edward is so enthralled in note taking, maybe he could tell the class what the base pairs are in DNA." Mr. Picard said and a marker slid of his desk and down the floor. Edward looked around. All the boys were laughing under their breath and Edward cleared his throat.

"Ummm...I...so, here's the thing...ummm" Mr. Picard shook his head.

"That would appear to be a no. Class, that finishes up our lesson on microscopic bacteria, please study for your test this coming Wednesday, you may talk amongst yourselves until the bell rings." Mr. Picard grumbled as he set down the white board marker, which immediately rolled to the right, the marker on the other side of the room making its way. The biology teacher was an older gentleman, in his seventies at least, he kept a well groomed mustache and had salt and pepper hair. He was dressed in a black pair and dress pants and a black dress shirt. A white tie and red sweater vest completed the teachers outfit. "Edward...to my desk, bring your notebook"

Edward sighed and stood up just as the teacher sat down in a wooden chair that didn't even move an inch. The class erupted in laughter and conversation as Edward walked up the row of desks. He walked up to Mr. Picard's desk and sighed. "Ummm...yes?" Mr. Picard looked up from his desk.

"Let me see your note book." Edward sighed a set the notebook on the desk. The teacher combed through the pages, looking at Edwards notebook, page after page was filled with illustrations of Tanks are armored vehicles. Everything was labeled, caliber of shells, armor thickness, slope, even the company that made the gun. Mr. Picard shook his head.

"What are you doing? You haven't wrote down a single shred of useful information." Edward sighed.

"Well biology isn't exactly my fancy. This notebook is, and…"

"Edward, if you don't want to be bullied at this school, I would suggest you start focusing on something useful. Is that understood?" Edward sighed.

"No not really sir, I have my interests, you have yours. I like to keep a precise catalog of armored vehicles. You sir, like to leave your pants unzipped." Edward grabbed his note book and smirked as Mr. Picard looked down, his face turned red as he quickly did his pants up. Edward gave him and slight nod and walked back to his desk.

Edward sighed and grabbed his sketch pencil. He tucked it inside his note book and pushed his notebook into his book bag. He set his bag on his desk and sat back down. His bag technically wasn't a book bag, it was an old RAF messenger bag he had pulled out of a shed back when he lived in Cardiff.

The school bell suddenly blared and Edward stood up immediately. He grabbed his bag and made a break for the door. He slipped in between two other boys and got into the hallway and sighed. He walked down the hall, slipping his hands into his box's. He stopped by one of the large window and took a glance outside.

He frowned a bit from the view. The school, IBALT was placed directly in the center of the ship, making up the bridge. The school was laid out in a way that the lower your grade level, the closer you were to the ground, so and elementary classes were low, the bridge of the ship was directly in the middle, and all high school classes were above. Every tilt felt like to was multiplied by ten up on the floor for students in the eleventh grade. That was why everything was secured to the floor, glue, bolts, nails, and screws kept the classrooms from sliding around. Usually the ship didn't tilt too much, but the ship had just rounded Scotland and was plowing, full speed, through the north sea. Edward shook his head, he walked down the hallway with his bag, he grabbed his raincoat off a coat rack when he felt the ship lift up.

Edward toppled back, as well as everyone else. The ship traveled over a huge wave throwing everyone to the floor. Suddenly the ship began to slam down again and Edward felt weightless. He floated off the floor for a brief moment before crashing down, another student landing ontop of him. They slid down the hallway about ten feet before the ship leveled itself back out and went back to its normal sway. Edward let out a gasp and winced as the boy got off of him. Edward rolled over onto his back and looked up, seeing the grinning face of Nick McCloskey.

Nick was short, probably four foot seven. He had messy blonde hair, and the only thing that was a bigger mess was his uniform, the white tie was completely loose, and the black dress shirt had the buttons in the wrong holes. He had sparkling white teeth and freckles that dotted his face. More importantly, he was Edward's best friend.

"Quite a ride there eh?" Mike said and laughed. Edward shook his head and sat up, groaning.

"For a little guy, you sure are heavy…" Edward winced and he forced himself to stand up. Other students had their stuff strewn about the hall, collecting it before it rolled away. Edward leaned against the window.

"Don't be such a bore, that was pretty fun!" Mike said and moved to stand next to him. Edward was a whole head taller than Mike, so it was a wonder that they were even in the same grade.

"Yeah alright, it was pretty fun...let's get out of here before the waves decide to knock us about again." Edward smiled and bit and pushed himself off the wall. They walked down the hall and took a sharp left to the eleventh floors small lobby. One kid was sticking his hand up into the vending machine, trying to grab snack that had been knocked down off the machine. Lucas Gomez pulled out a bag of funyuns and frowned.

"I hate funyuns...anyone want some funyuns?" Edward raised his hand as he walked passed and Lucas tossed them over to Edward.

"Thanks Gomez!" Edward said and Lucas sighed. Edward opened the bag and munched on one as the room swayed back and forth. He reached over pressed the elevator button and sighed.

"So how was bio?" Mike said and Edward sighed.

"It's biology, what do you expect?" Mike giggled a bit.

"I don't know….maybe it's fun. Hey, did you hear the school board is looking for some new mandatory electives?" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"Makes sense, we had what? Chess and...what was it?"

"Chess and, that plane shit...remember." Edward laughed.

"Oh yeah, we were supposed to learn how to fly right, it was like Tankery but planes. Then all the school could afford was a Twin Otter, fun plane, but still, I expected to fly a Typhoon or something." Mike nodded and Edward ate another funyun. The elevator door beeped and it opened. Edward and Mike stepped in.

Mike pressed the button labeled deck. The door slowly closed and Edward leaned on the wall. The elevator went down and Mike looked over. "So um, what would you suggest for an elective. I wouldn't mind fishing." Edward nodded and sighed.

"I don't know. You remember that fishing trip we took as kids? Our dad's took us up to Llanfairfechan, you got pneumonia." Edward laughed a bit and Mike laughed.

"Yeah, I remember that, I was out of school for about two months. Why?" Edward sighed.

"Remember who got us too the hospital? That." Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the Welsh Tankery team was having a practice match in the area and…" Mike paused before bursting out laughing. "Edward...no, next thing you know we'll be wearing skirts and having a tea ceremony." Edward laughed half heartedly and sighed.

"Yeah, that would be funny huh...just a joke." Edward looked up and the elevator stopped, the door slid open, Edward walked out.

"Edward, where are you going?" Mike yelled and ran to catch up.

"I got homework…catch up with you later." Edward sighed.

"Yeah, okay, see ya" Mike said and turned down one of the other hallways as Edward walked out the front door. He paused and put his raincoat on, even though the rain had turned to sleet. Edward shoved his hands in his pockets and walked down the sidewalk. A raven squawked as it flew overhead. Other boys were getting picked up in cars and Edward looked over at the school.

Edward shrugged and kept walking, splashing a puddle as he walked by. The sleet came down harder and Edward sighed. He looked around and saw a dimly lit shop. He grumbled and walked over the the door. He opened it and stepped inside, the wall of warm air hitting him hard. He took down his hood and walked around inside, the shop had multiple jerseys, caps, and other sport memorabilia. Edward shrugged and decided to walk around. He passed by a section of Tankery jerseys and decided to take a look. He walked by and saw jerseys for the national teams for Germany, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, and even the team from New Zealand.

He walked to the end of the row when the sight of red and green caught his eye. He walked over and looked at the Welsh team jersey. The logo of a Welsh dragon crushing a tank under its claw was emblazoned on the front. He shrugged and pulled it off and walked up to the clerk. The clerk raised and eyebrow and scanned the shirt.

"Ten euros." Edward sighed and fished around in his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and paid for the jersey. The clerk put the jersey in bag and handed it to Edward.

"Thanks." Edward mumbled and walked over to the door. He put his hood back up and opened the door. As soon as he was back outside, the wind and rain whipping at his face. He let out a groan, continuing to walk, he had about a block to go. He walked up to a street and sighed, the indicated said he couldn't walk but there wasn't a car in sight. He grumbled and crossed the street, worms wiggling across, trying to escape the rain.

He got to the other side and paused. He looked behind him and saw a head disappear behind a bush. He shrugged and kept walked, not thinking much of it. When Edward finally reached the large dorm complex, he tried the door.

"Locked...where is my card." He mumbled and dug around in his book bag. He found a small, smooth flat rectangle and pulled out his apartment pass. He tapped it on a small black card reader and waited three second before it opened with a quiet *click*.

Edward threw himself through the door into the lobby and gasped, taking the warm air into his lungs. He glanced around, no one was in the lobby. Edward sighed and walked past the elevator, an out of order sign hung loosely like a decoration. He walked over to the stairwell and began the grueling climb up the stairs.

When he finally reached the second floor, his legs burned. Edward walked down the long, almost featureless hallway. He passed the never-ending blue doors until he came to his. He took his key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open slowly.

"Home sweet….whatever." He grumbled and walked inside. He closed the door gently and flicked on the lights in the main room. They flickered on and filled the room. He took of his shoes, hung is coat on the door and set the bag with the jersey on the counter.

He flicked on the bathroom light and sighed, taking a look in the mirror. Edward was tall, probably five foot nine, and slim, a pair of glasses settled on the bridge of his nose. His hair, a dirty blond, was short and messy and his eyes were teal. He sighed undid his tie and tossed it next to the sink, then took his shirt off.

He grabbed a shirt that hung on the towel rack and put it on. The shirt was a basic green long sleeve shirt, nothing special about it. Edward smiled and turned off the light. He walked back out into the small living room. His boxes were still stacked up in the corner and had barely been touched. Only one had been opened and the only thing in that box had been a toaster, which Edward hadn't even bothered to plug in.

Edward sat down on the couch and sighed, he grabbed the remote of the small coffee table and turned on the TV. A Norwegian weather channel blared on and Edward sighed. He switched off the TV and and glanced over at the boxes.

"I might as well unpack some…" Edward shrugged and stood up. He took the empty boy that held the toaster and tossed it off to the side. He grabbed the next box and set it on the coffee table, opening it. Inside was a an overturned picture frame. He picked it up and flipped it over. There was picture of Edward and his dog Dexter. Edward smiled and set the photo on a nearby self. U dear the photo was a model of .234 Puma, perfectly painted. Edward gently lifted it out and looked around at it, he turned it upside down, and printed on the bottom were his initials, E.I.L. Edward Iorwerth Lewis.

He placed the model next to the photo and map unpacking. After about half an hour he had unpacked about half the boxes and took a look around the room. It was decorated with posters, pictures, and models, and he now had a full cooking set.

Edward sighed and walked over to a window. He opened the curtains and the sun shined into the room. He sighed and closed the curtain.

"I should get a jog in…" Edward mumbled to himself and walked over to the door. He slipped on his shoes and put on a hoodie, walking out of the room. He went back down the stairs and outside. He looked around and watched as a couple cars drove by. . He walked along the sidewalk, stepping in the small puddles that had formed. His form building was right on the edge of the large pane forest, a walking path running all throughout.

Edward would jog the path about twice a week to stay in shape, sometime he would jog it with Mike but that was rare. As Edward ran along he stopped to catch his breath. He looked at his watch and sighed. If he ran for about twenty minutes he could see the sun set, but then again, Edward wasn't much of a romantic. He shrugged and turned around, he could just sleep instead.

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Edward threw open his door in a panic. He sprinted down the hall, his tie loose and holding one if of his shoes. He started going in the one foot, trying to put it on as he ran but instead he just fell over. He sighed and got on one knee, slipping the shoe on and tying it before taking off again. He burned down down the stairs and bolted through the lobby.

He made it too the street and took off toward the school. He glanced at his watch. The school bell had woken him up when it rang five minutes ago. He ran across the street without even taking a glance and almost got pegged by a car. He shook off the sudden jolt immediately and kept on running. He could here over the intercom, half a block away.

"All grade Eleven students, please make your way to the gymnasium." The school board must be having an assembly, Edward figured as the front door of the school complex came into view. He tore across the parking lot, squeezing between cars. He shoved his way through the front doors and says the line of kids making their way to the gym.

Edward saw Mike and forced his way into the line, standing next to him..

"Hey Edward, are you okay." Edward gasped and leaned on Mike's should.

"Yeah…..fine" Edward wheezed and Mike laughed.

"For your information, they called the senior high classes to discuss our mandatory electives...remember?" Edward nodded, His head spinning.

"Yeah...right." Edward mumbled and they walked into the gymnasium. They sat down near the back of the gym and waited. Edward looked at the floor as Mike talked to someone next to him.

"Alright, quiet down!" A voice with a greek accent boomed through the speakers. Edward looked up at the speaker who walked across the gym stage. The speaker was slim man in his very early, he wore a pair of no grain glasses and a black suit and white shirt. He held a clipboard. The gym slowly quieted down.

"Thank you, now I know our MEs were a bit lackluster last year. But that thankfully we have allocated some of the budget. We will be able to offer four new MEs." There was a mild and slow clapping and Edward sighed.

"Our first option is once again chess. I know some of you will be glad to hear that, we had some great players last year and placed third in the South American high school chess championship." There was louder clapping this time.

"Second, well, some students requested we start and acting program. We will be looking for students directors so we can be ready for the one act festival in British Columbia this upcoming spring. For the third ME, we plan to start a football team...and before someone asks, it's not American football." A few students groaned.

"Unfortunately the board is split on what we use the final quarter of the budget, so is any student has a suggestion, they can come up to the board room at lunch." Edward paused and looked at the the floor.

"Thank your for your attention students." If you could stack the chairs in stacks of three, that would be great."

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Edward waited the entire day for lunch and as soon as the bell rang he made his way to the board room office. He got lost somewhere along the way and ended up in the janitor's closet. When he finally made it to the room, the five members were just packing up when Edward opened the door.

"Well it would appear I was wrong!" On to the board members, a younger blond women said. "Well, you appear to be the only one who has a suggestion, so whatever it is, please tell us."

Edward sighed and took a deep breath. "I would like to suggest…" Edward paused and looked down.

"Well come on now, spit it out." The head of the board said, sitting back down. Edward sighed and looked back up.

"I would like to suggest Tankery!"

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 **((I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and this story, this revision process will be long, but it should be worth it, tell me what you think. So yeh, I guess there is only one thing to say as we move forward...Panzer vor!))**


	2. Chapter II

**Chapter II**

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" **Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline." -Helmut Von Moltke The Elder**

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The head if the board hesitated as the other members sat down, the room filled with tension and silence.

"I'm sorry…what, what did you say?" The blond women asked, obliviously confused.

"I would like to suggest Tankery." Edward said slowly the board members looked at each other and the head of the board sighed.

"Ummm, sorry to be the first to tell you...it's a female only sport." Edward smiled and shook his head.

"Sorry sir, it's not, no where is it stated that the participants must be female." Edward stepped forward a bit and reached into his bag. "Here, read it for yourself." Edward placed a copy of the rules and regulations for high school teams on the table and slid it forward. The head of the board flipped it up and went to the participants section.

"Must be fifteen or above...taller than four feet...able bodied...I-I...he's right, no where in here, how is that possible, males have never played before." Edward nodded and raised a finger.

"I mean yes and no, the sport is only marketed towards girls, it's the same reason girls don't really play football, so no male team has ever been fielded. We are forgetting of course, that tank crews during both world wars were male. My Grandfather was a gunner in a firefly for the Household Division." The board members struggled for words.

"Well, Tankery isn't that popular with high schoolers in Europe, so, how could we even compete. Not to mention that our ME budget won't be able to purchase tanks." Edward nodded, if he hadn't been prepared, he would have no idea to say, but he had memorized everything he could.

"Our school is an international school, we have students from all over the globe, that's how he can compete in the South American chess tournament. We can legally register for the tournament in Japan, Tankery is very big over there. Also, we make port Bremerhaven in three days, a lot of the old Tankery teams stored their tanks in the caves in the surrounding areas. If we are lucky, some may have been left behind and now are just waiting to be found." The board has grasping for any counter argument. The blond women spoke up again

"We can't just...no, we can just take them...but how, the budget can buy ammunition and repairs. He is right…" Edward smiled and nodded. "And he is the only student who had a suggestion. Does that mean our fourth mandatory elective is Tankery?" It took a moment for anyone it respond until the head of the board cleared his throat.

"I guess that is a yes...even if it makes this school a laughing stock." Edward sighed.

"Think of it this way, any boys who want to take Tankery will switch schools to come here. IBALT, the Internal Boys Academy for Troubled Learners. They couldn't even spell the acronym right, that's how worthless this school is. If we get a reputation...we could probably rename the school." Now the board looked interested. Edward knew that the head, Mr. Demo, hadn't been able to land a job at any other school, so he took over as head board member when the previous quit last year.

"Alright….sorry what's your name son?"

"Edward Lewis sir" Edward said and smiled.

"Looks like we will be the first school to offer Tankery to boys…" Edward nodded.

"Thank you"

* * *

Edward ducked under a dodge ball and scrambled behind one of the large mats set up in the gym. He heard two more smack into the mat before he stood up and took a blind throw. The ball hit nothing but the back wall and another ball smacked Edward directly in his chest. Mike cheered from across the room before he was cut off by a whistle.

"Alright class, I have your ME sign up sheets. Please come and grab one off the stage and fill them out. When you're done you may set them on my desk." The gym teacher grumbled and walked off into his office. Mike ran over to Edward.

"Did you see that shot, it was so good!" Edward nodded.

"See it? Man I felt it." He felt a hand of his shoulder and turned around.

"Good try Edward." Walter Weber said, his german accent almost making him impossible to understand. Walter and Edward had met each other about a week and a half ago and almost immediately became friends. Walter was just a bit taller than Edward, six foot, and thick black hair. He had a long slim face and was built like a twig. Unlike many of the other students, his parents lived aboard the ship. Both Edward and Walter had a lot in common, they both spoke german, obviously Walter could, but Edward had learned it by himself. Walter also had an interest in Tankery, which really made them friends. Something even more strange was the Walter's Grandfather also was in the crew of tank during the second world war. He had been a driver for a Tiger I in the 12. SS Panzer Division.

"Thanks Walter, I didn't see you do much better." Walter rolled his eyes.

"That was because I tripped." Edward could hear hushed whispers from the stage as students began to fill out their forms. The group of three waked over and grabbed their pieces of paper. Mike did a casual read then his eyes widened. He pulled the paper closer to his face.

"Guys!?" Mike shoved the paper in their face, almost having to stand for his tippy toes. "Look what it says!" Walter smiled and laughed.

"That's pretty cool!" Mike was pacing back and forth.

"But who would even go suggest that, I mean...IT WAS YOU!" Mike whirled around and pointed at Edward.

"Fine you caught me!" Edward laughed and leaned in the stage. He wrote his name on and marked an x next to Tankery and smiled. "So...what are you guys signing up for?"

"Well might as well." Walter marked Tankery as well and Mike looked back and forth at them.

"But...what...why...I...fine." Mike grumbled and marked Tankery. "Edward, you are such a loser." Edward rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you grab a stool and say that to my face." Walter burst out laughing, almost crying.

"That….that was pretty good!" He gasped and Edward chuckled.

"Hey...I'm not that short!" Mike huffed. Mike handed Edward the paper. "Go hand that in for me." Walter handed his over and Edward sighed.

"Yeah fine" Edward walked over to the gym teacher's office and set them in his basket. The teacher grumbled, not really noticing that a student was in the room.

"Tankery, what kind of girly bullshit is this."Edward raised and eyebrow and slowly backed out. He walked back over to the group where Mike was ranting about how stupid it was that they sighed up.

"I mean, we will be the only ones in it!" Edward frowned and climbed up on the stage.

"I guess we have our first meeting tomorrow, but we don't even have an instructor." Edward mumbled, realizing the slight oversight.

"I could ask my Opa to come in, I'm sure he needs something to do." Edward nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, he will at least have some experience."

* * *

Edward walked out to behind the school where the first lesson was being held. He saw a group of boys milling about. He counted eighteen, himself being nineteen. He walked over to the table and leaned on it. The group kept talking until two men walked over. One was the head of the school board, and the other was an old man, who appeared to be in his eighties.

He walked slow with and old oak walking stick, the stick didn't appear to have any actual use, but it definitely made him look distinguished. He was dressed in an old panzer crew uniform, the jacket was leibermuster, and the pants were an olive drab. He wore visored field cap, the skull and crossbones on the front, and his boot had been freshly polished. The symbol of the SS was sewn on the jacket's collar. Edward couldn't make out the rank, being not familiar with the German rank system. Mr. Demo cleared his throat.

"Alright boys, line up, this is Mr. Weber, He will…" Mr. Weber grumbled something. "Sorry, did you wanna say something?"

"Hauptsturmführer Weber…"The old man grumbled and Mr. Demo laughed nervously.

"Lets just stick to Mr. Weber.. shall we?" Weber shook his head.

"Nein, Hauptsturmführer Weber, 12. SS Panzer division." All the boys look around and Edward heard one of the boys whisper.

"Yo, I didn't know Walter's grandpa was nazi…" Weber looked over in the boy's direction. He made his way over and stood in front of the boy.

"What was that?" He grumbled and the boy gulped.

"I...I didn't say anything." Weber narrowed his eyes.

"Is that how address your superior...what is your name?" The boy laughed nervously.

"No sir...I'm Johnny Fisher." Weber made a rumbling noise in his throat. "Sir…"

"Mr. Demo, you can go, I can handle it from here." Weber said and walked along the column of boys.

"Alright, ummmm, you boys have fun…" Mr. Demo said and left. As soon as soon as He was gone Weber yawned. He walked back out in front and yelled.

"Alright, since we down not have any Panzers, we will focus on labor intensive work. Each one of you go grab a sandbag and come back to me." He pointed over to a large pile of sandbags and they all milled off. Edward grabbed a sandbag and heaved it onto his shoulder. He walked back and stood back in line. One by one they all came back and stood in a line. One of the boys, Charlie Burg, a muscular boy with ginger hair, set his sandbag at his feet.

"Did I say you could set down your sandbag! Pick it up and grab another!" Charlie stood stock still and hesitated. "Did I speak too softly!?"

"N-No sir" Charlie picked his bag and ran back, he grabbed another bag and heaved both under his arms.

"Very good, now follow me, single file." Weber said and turned around, he placed his walking stick on his shoulder and made his way down one of the dirt trails into the forest. They all fell in behind him and walked for about ten minutes in silence

"What is the matter, did no one ever teach you how to march?" Weber said, not even turning around. Suddenly they all quickened pace and put more swing in their step. "Much better, now...we are still missing something…"

"Would that be song sir?" Ludvig called from the back. Weber nodded and it was followed by silence.

"Well get on with it." It was followed by another pause before Mike's voice sang quietly.

"When I wake up, well I'm know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you." The group chucked a bit but was quickly silenced.

"If you are laughing, I assume you know the song, and if you know the song, you should be SINGING!" Almost instantly everyone started sing I'm Gonna Be. Edward started to sweat, using his free hand to loosen his tie.

They kept walking for about another half an hour, all the while singing I'm Gonna Be. When they finally stopped, the were in a small clearing in the trees.

"You may set down the sandbags." Edward groaned and dropped his to the ground, it landing on his foot. He winced and kicked it off, kneeling down to grab it and see if anything broke, luckily, nothing had.

"Alright, one important thing the gunner needs to know is to keep a steady aim. You all just walked for forty minutes well singing, so you should be anything but steady." He pulled a pellet gun out of his pocket and set it on a stump. He then walked, what Edward assumed was twenty meters, and set up a target before walking back he pulled out a piece of paper.

"Liam Durand, step forward, the rest of you, do push ups till I call your name." Edward groaned and got onto the ground. He did push ups as one by one, Weber call the boys up to shoot the target, all the while Edward's arms ached.

"Edward Lewis." Edward looked up and crawled forward and on't his knee. He walked next to the old man who places the pellet gun in his hands.

"You have ten rounds, take your best shot." Edward breathed heavily, His hands trembling. He took his first shot, a miss. He took two more, both misses. He hit on his forth, then missed on his fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth. He hit again on his ninth, and once again his tenth and final shot.

"Good try, you may go sit down." Edward nodded and wheezed, handing him the gun back.

"Thank you sir…" The man nodded and Edward walked over and sat next to Mike, who had the biggest smile on his face.

"What's up with you? How many time did you hit?" Mike looked over at him.

"I hit seven times." Edward raised and eyebrow and mumbled, sounding a bit ticked off.

"How the hell did you hit seven times." Mike shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm just good I guess." Edward rolled his eyes, he watched boy after boy miss and hit.

By the end, only seven of the nineteen boys had positive hit ratio, and only one had hit on every shot, and that was Charlie Berg, and he hadn't even broke a sweat.

"You all did very well today, tomorrow we will work on some math."

"Math!?" Mike said and looked up. Weber sighed.

"Yes, trigonometry is important, it will be important to teach you all how armor slope is calculated so you don't waste shots in combat. Do any do you know how that is calculated?" Edward immediately shot up his hand. "Yes."

"Slope is important in calculating effective thickness. For example, the standard T-34 only had frontal armor that was forty seven millimeters thick. The armor however was tilted at sixty degrees. You take the original thickness, forty seven, and divide it by sine of the slope angle, you get the armors effective thickness. That means the T-34 had an effective thickness of ninety four millimeters." Weber was looking at him blankly.

"Yes...that's…that's exactly right." Edward smiled and looked over at Mike, who shook his head. Edward looked back to the old man.

"Edward clearly knows a lot, I suggest you learn from him. You are dismissed." Edward stood up and smiled as Weber walked off down one of the trails, Edward ran to catch up to him.

"Sir, it's real nice of you to teach us." The man grumbled and sighed.

"Well, I figure I might as well put what I know to good use. I think this is important for you to learn, teaches you responsibility, teaches you resourcefulness. I watch the news, I know what's happening, and it will be your generation that will deal with it. And everything you learn here, it will do you good...it'll do you good…"


	3. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

* * *

" **We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage…" - Theodore Roosevelt.**

* * *

Edward stood on the edge of the ship, watching as it pulled into port. A small crowd was gathered on the dock, no doubt family of some of the students who came to say hello. Edward scanned the crowd, He had told his dad over the phone when they would be making landfall and where they would be, but he didn't see him. Edward sighed and pushed off the railing. He walked over to the rest of the group who was waiting by the cargo elevator. Mr Demo was standing the group as well.

"Alright boys, we can keep the ship here till noon tomorrow, then we leave, whatever you find, that what we have. We will have stuff to repair and supply the tanks when you get back." Harold, a dark skinned boy, shot up his hand.

"But sir, that's not even twenty four hours, its five now!" The man sighed.

Its the best we can do, we just got word that we have a new student waiting in Ireland and we have to pick him up, so you have till noon tomorrow." Edward sighed and adjusted his backpack. Mr. Demo flicked the switch for the cargo elevator and it slowly started to descend.

"Is it just me, or are the odds stacked against us?" Walter whispered to Edward and Edward sighed.

"We cant exactly complain now can we?" Edward whispered back. Edward the spoke to the entire group.

"Okay, you already have your groups, so, group one, thast wiht me, we will catch the five thirty bus to Sellstedter See und Ochsentriftmoor. Group two, you guys make your way to Loxstedt, group three, you guys catch the ferry down river to Brake. Finally group four, you guys go to Varel." the group nodded and as soon as the elevator stopped, a section of the hull slid open and ramp slid down. Edwards group, himself, Walter, Lucas Gomez, and Nick McCloskey, all took of running for the bus station. It wasn't that far of a run so when they made it there they just bought their tickets and sat down.

When the bus finally arrive, the all quickly climbed on and rode out to Sellstedter See und Ochsentriftmoor. they stepped off the bus with one other man, who was obliviously a bird watcher.

"Ich habe gehört, dass es hier draußen einen Adler gibt." the man said looking at them.

"Coooool...' Edward said and raised an eyebrow. The slowly turned around walked away from the man before pulling out heir map.

"Okay…"Walter said. "We are here." He pointed to a high point off the main road. "I he follow this trail down through the woods. There is a bend about two hours from here. At that bed is an entrance to a cave. I know for a fact that the cave has been used before, so if we get lucky, something will have been left behind." Lucas Gomez sighed.

"But it's almost dark out now, why don't we wait till morning…" Edward shook his head.

"We don't have time, grab your stuff and let's get a move on." Lucas sighed and picked up his bag which he had taken off, unlike everyone else who had kept there's on. Lucas was a hefty kid from Brazil, fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. He had dark black hair and tanned skin. Nick on the other hand was a skinny, pale, Irish boy with bright red curly hair. The group left the bird watcher man behind and walked off into the tree's. They looked around, trying to see if they could see anything. When they reached the bend Walter was talking about, they could see the cave through the tree's.

"Well...there it is." Edward mumbled and turned on his flashlight. The pushed through the trees and into the cave. Inside lights ran across the ceiling, a nine track ran down the side, and old purred and stained paper scattered across the paper. Edward walked far ahead when he heard Nick yelp followed by the sound of metal bouncing across the floor.

"What was that?!" Lucas yelped and Edward looked around with the flashlight. A german Stahlhelm was slowly rolling across the floor five feet in front of them. Edward walked forward and picked it up. There were some scratches on it but no major rusting of holes.

"Nick, hold onto this." Edward tossed to to Nick who fumbled around before catching it. They group pushed on when Lucas mumbled.

"What does achtung, minen mean." Edward stopped and turned around. Lucas was looking at an old sign on the floor, the metal sign had a skull and crossbones on it and the words 'ACHTUNG MINEN!' on it.

"Attention, mines" Walter said and sighed. "Probably was meant to be set up before this cave got over run., their should be none in here so we will be fine" Lucan groaned.

"I don't wanna die down here…" Edward dismissed the comment and they kept on walking. They came into a large opening and Edward looked around with the flashlight, illuminating the cavernous space. The light flashed over old signs and maps showing battle plans and troop movements.

"Wow, look at that…"Edward said, almost awestruck.

"Eh, looks kinda boring" Lucas said and Edward sighed.

"My, why must you ruin everything…" Nick mumbled and Lucas sighed.

"Well sorry, I just don't like maps, jeez." Nick grumbled something unrecognizable in gaelic. Edward dis t see a trying of note in the large cave chamber except for and off shoot. He looked over at Walter, who nodded.

"Guys...lets just keep going deeper." Edwards said and Lucas yelled back.

"Deeper!? Are you crazy!?" his voice echoing off the walls.

"For Christ sake, sure you face!" Nick yelled and Edward snapped.

"How about he all shut up and just keep going!?" Both Nick and Lucas sighed.

"Yeah...okay fine" Lucas grumbled and they walked deeper into the cave

* * *

Wilson Smith and Richard Pennington walked down the streets of Varel.

Wilson had a shaved head and learning blue eyes, he was of an average build and was probably five foot three. Richard had jet black hair and was one of the few grade twelve students of the group. He had a full mustache, which he liked to keep curled up on both ends. He was also the tallest, at around six foot four, a camera swung freely from his neck.

"So...ummm, where do we look." Wilson mumbled and looked around. It was ready dark out, and streetlights illuminated the path ahead of them.

"I don't know…let's go and check out the uhh….ummmm….woods?"

"W-w-woods…" Wilson stuttered. "But it's dark...and...and scary."

"Oh grow up...let's just go." The pair walked around for a bit when they suddenly entered the town square.

"We're lost aren't we?" Richard shook his head.

"No we just need to walk south." Richard pointed to his left." The woods are south!"

"That's west you dumbass" Wilson sighed.

"How would you know?" Richard spun around to look at him and saw the compass he had in hand.

"Oh...hehe...south it is" The pair weaved

Edward through the streets heading south. They reached the edge if the town and Richard grabbed his camera.

"Look at this flower." He crouched knelt next to him.

"Yeah, sure I beautiful, I would love to paint it." Richard sighed and took a picture.

"Photos capture a better likeness."

"Well art capture the soul of the subject."

"Well...so can a photo!"

"No, a photo is just what everyone sees, paint can create an understanding of the world, a feeling of connection to the earth and all its leaving…hey where are you going!?" Richard was walking into the trees.

"Away from you paint brain." Wilson lept up and ran after him.

"Don't leave me! It's dark out here!" He yelled.

They wandered around the woods for about an hour and stopped to rest on a log.

"This is soooooo boring." Richard sighed.

"You need to take time to appreciate the world around you, take for instance this log. Sure it's covered in moss." He moved some do the moss. "But underneath is it's smooth core, cold to the touch, that stood strong for-"

"Yeah whatever tree hugger, move" Richard cut him off and started to pull at the moss.

"Hey what are you doing!?" Wilson snapped. "Just...take...oh…" Wilson jumped down and watched as Richard pulled the moss of a long cylindrical metal tube, painted green and brown.

"Well help me!" Wilson started to pull off some moss. He followed it down the long and got to where it stopped, it ended abruptly and flared out at the end. He pulled the moss off and saw the end of a barrel, it was blown apart at the end. He looked down it.

"Wow, look at this…" He mumbled and looked back to Richard who was climbing up a mossy wall. When he got to the top he paused.

"Bingo, we've struck oil." Richard joked and Wilson ran over, he tripped and landed with a thud, the ground making a metallic clink. Wilson pulled himself up and backed up. As he got farther away, he could make out the shape of some kind of armored vehicle, He hand no clue what is was, but it was covered in moss and stuck in a deep hole.

"Richard...call the school, we got one!"

* * *

"Yeah, sorry to tell you Edward, we got to radio reception down here, whatever they just said, we can't hear it." Nick said as he messed around with the portable radio before shoving it back in his backpack.

"Maybe we should just turn back, we oblivious won't find anything down here." Lucas said and sighed.

"Just a bit farther guys...come on" Edward said and sighed. There was moment of silence before they started walking now. They had been following the twisted cave system all night and it was now almost eight in the morning.

"Edward, all of the big open chambers have been empty, what make you sure?" Walter said, who now also had broken spirits.

"You can make out the scratch marks from tank treads. If we keep going, we should find whatever made them."

"If we keep going we are gonna find and empty room with more maps and helmets…" Nick grumbed. His backpack clanging as they had strapped three helmets onto his bag.

"Just trust me, I got a good feeling." Lucas groaned.

"Do you always have a good feeling?" Edward disregarded the comment and scanned the walls with his light. They continued to walk down the twisting cavern until Edward spotted a large opening.

"Here we are….just look around clearly guys, we don't wanna miss anything. They split up and walked around. Edward could see rusty tools strewn across the ground, old cabled and empty jugs of hydraulic fluid.

"This was a repair shop." He picked up wrench that read 'made in Germany on the side' He checked for any other markings and he found the date 1963.

"All this stuff is from the sixties, no more war junk now." He mumbled and scanned the walls.

"Aww shit!" Walter yelled out as the sound of metal being bashed into filled the cavern.

"You Okay!?" Lucas asked from somewhere else.

"Yeah, I just walked into….oh my" Edward turned around with his flashlight, the light wasn't that great so he could only see three feet in front of him. When he found Walter he was sitting and looking up. Edward turned the light it bounced back in his face reflecting off metal.

"What is this…"Walter asked confused as Nick and Lucas appeared out of the darkness. Edward took a step closer and rested his hand on it, it was absolutely covered in dust and cobwebs. He drug his fingers along the flat surface until his felt it slope towards him. He looked up and saw a cannon barrel that protruded from the metal wall. He felt walking and found another cannon on the same side. He raised and eyebrow and laid down. He shunned the light across the ground and saw tracks, He followed them with the light and they vanished into the darkness. He stood backup.

"It's...it's a tank all right, just not sure what kind…" Edward mumbled when Nick shouted.

"Hey! I found an generator over here, should I try to start it?" Edward yelled.

"Yeah! Go for it!" He hears the sound of Nick pulling in the cord. He probably pulled thirty times before the sound of the generator humming filled the space. Some of the ceiling lights flickered on, the dull glow allowing Edward to actually see what was in from of him. He took a step back and Walter stood up.

"Is that...a...a…Großkampfwagen" Walter said, completely awestruck.

"I...it shouldn't exist...only two prototypes were ever made. Both...both of which got dismantled." Edward mumbled and started to walk around the large vehicle. It stretched forty three feet long. It was ten feet tall, and was twenty feet wide. Each side of the Tank had two seventy seven millimeters guns, making that four in total. Edward looked for a way in and found a ladder mounted to the side. He climbed up the ladder and pulled himself onto the flat roof. The double He exhaust pipes poked out of the top, their massive air filters painted red. He crouched and inched his way across the top, he made it to the commander's position and pulled on the hatch. The hinges squeaked and the hatch lifted. He looked inside and saw a single leather chair, surrounded by buttons and pull wires.

He closed it and crawled is way back to the ladder. He climbed back down and looked back up, the tank was almost double his height.

"Well...we got one...how do we get it outta here." Walter said and Edward realizes their predicament.

"We could drive it out of here…" Nick suggested.

"We don't even have fuel for it…" Lucas grumbled."

"Look around," Edward said as he walked over to a side hatch. "If this is where this thing was worked on, they should have some fuel somewhere…" Edward pulled in the side hatch and opened up the hatch to the transmission room. He stepped in and looked at the two engines. The first thing He noticed was that the engines were not those of the original K-Wagons. He got closer and noticed that the engines were two Maybach HL230, the same engines that the Germans used to propel tanks like the tiger I and II. He figured if one of these engines could get a tiger to forty kilometers, two could push the K-Wagon to thirty.

He stepped back out and looked over to Lucas, who was rolling a large fuel tank across the ground, he stopped when he got close and groaned, laying across the barrel.

So...heavy..." He groaned and Edward laughed a bit. It took the about half an hour to get the tank all fueled up, and when they finally did, they stood in the transmission room. Nick was scratching his head.

"How uhhhh...how do we start this? Nick said, scraching his head. Edward brushed past him and looked at the engine crank.

"So what yoy do is grab this." Edward grabbed the crank in his hands and started to pull it back and up. "Pull it towards you..." He got it up to the top and shoved it away and down. "Go like this!" The engine sputtered and Edward groaned.

"You sure Edward?" Lucas askwd and looked over his shoulder. Edward nodded and repeated the process, repeating the result.

"Come one big girl, it's time to wake up now..." Edward pyled on the crank and shoved it down. The engine roared to life with a bang and Edward stepped back.

"That's a good girl..." Lucas looked at Edward.

"Edward, why is it a girl?" Edeard smiled.

"Because tanks, boats, and cars are all girls...and this one is very tired. We just gotta give her a little love and she'll take care of us just fine..." Edward smiled and turned towards the narrow passage that ran the length of the tank. He walked along towards the front and into the commanders position. He climbed up into the seat and looked around. Nedt to him were fire wires, each had bern labeled in English with an old peice of tape. They read, forward, reverse, left, right, and stop.

"Hey Edward, how to we control this thing, we can't see from back there."

"These cables shluld turn on lights back there, they should be labeled." Nick nodded and disappeared. Edward waited a moment before he opened the cupola and peeked his head out. He pulled on the forward wire and the tank started to move back and smashed into a wall. Edward braced himself before Nick realized his mistake and the K-Wagen moved forward.

Edward then signaled for a left and the tank turned. They slowly approached the cave tunnel and started to scape up against the wall on the left side. Nick realized what was happening and sloely eaised to the left. Edward helled him get straight as they traveled down the long caverns.

They managed to contiue with only a few more minor scapes and crashes nothing too serious. Once they got outside, Edward looked at his watch

"Eleven thirty, ahhh shoot." He fumbed in his pocket as he gave Nick theborder to stop. He pulled out his phone and called the school. It rang twice before being snatched up. Mr. Demo's voice said.

"Hello, IBALT, Mr. Demo speaking."

"Hey, it's Edward, we are on our way back, we went pretty deep into a cave but manadged to find a tank. Can you hold in port a bit longer or do we need the schools Halo to pick us up.

"That depends really, how heavy is the tank you got." Edward paused and crunched some numbers.

"I would say it is probibly 200 tonnes..." The was a long pause.

"We can hold in port for you, you will have to drive back." Edward smiled and gave the order for forward.

"Right sir, we should be forty minutes or so."

* * *

Edward smiled and looked at the tanks they had lined up. The first in the line was tank Edward hadn't recognized, a Pz. 39.

The Pz. 39 was light and nimble, it was designed in Czechoslovakia for the Swiss. The tank closely resembled the Pz. 38(t), being of the same tank family, but the 39 was better designed for traveling the steep, snowy slopes of the Swiss alps. The next tank was a Grizzly I.

The Grizzly I was the Canadian version of the M4A1. The tank was basically an improved version of the M4, it had thicker armor at a steeper slope, a better range, and used Canadian Dry Pin tracks.

They had also happened across a Crusader III, light and nimble like the Pz. 39, it was another good tank. Wilson and Richard had also found an Archer.

The archer had the ed of it barrel blow apart but other than that, it was in good condition. The archer was strange because the gun faced the rear of the tank, so when the tank moved forward, the gun was looking backwards. The other problem was that Archer was open topped, so they were looking into if it was against the rules to rivet a top onto the tank.

Finally, the Großkampfwagen, the super heavy tank that dwarfed any of the other tanks they had found. It as a dull grey, but they planned to paint all the tanks to give them a bit more character.

Weber walked along the row of tanks as the boys ate sandwiches.

"Very nice, tomorrow we will start real target practice...hope you are not scared of fireworks."


	4. Chapter IV

**Chapter IV**

* * *

 **"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but** **planning is indispensable" - Dwight D. Eisenhower**

* * *

Edward stood and watched as the Archer pulled into firing position. It slowly leveled out the cannon and there was a moments pause before smoke and fire exploded from the barrel. The shell traveled at high velocity through the air with a high pitched scream. The group turned to watch as it smashed into an old and broken truck. The truck was ripped apart by the force of the blast, smoldering pieces of metal flying across the open field. Edward nodded and looked back. The Archer then started to drive ahead and Wilson, the gunner, loader, and commander, poked his head out if the top hatch, looking around and smiling.

The Archer pulled back into the line of tanks. The hum of its engine being silenced. Wilson and Richard popped open the hatches and climbed out. The two of them said something to eachother and walked over.

"Quite and impressive shot Wilson." Grumbled Weber as he wrote something down in a note pad. "Alright, the crusader is up next..." The three members of the Crusader team nodded and jogged over to their tank and a tow truck pulled a wrecked jeep into the firing line.

Peter Smith, Wilsons younger borther, was the commander of the tank. The two were almost identical in everyway other than that Peter hadn't shaved his head and had curly blond hair. Lucas was driving the Crusader, he complaned that the other tanks were too loud, but everyone had guess it was because the Crusader was nice and fast, something Lucas liked. The gunner was Liam Durand, he was muscular french boy, he died his hair blue and had it tied back in some kind of ponytail. The trio mounted the tank and soon the Crusader let out a gental purr. It advanced quickly and spun around into the firing postion, kicking up grass and turf.

Edward could see Peter poke his head out for a moment before he dissapeared. The crusader did quick adjustment before it opened fire. The shot wizzed through the air and took the right mirror off the jeep, bouncing off the ground and flying off into the trees. Edward sighed and watched the crusader's turret make a tiny roatation to the left.

The tank recoiled again as another round was unleashed. This time the shell found its mark as it crushed the hood of the jeep, there was moments delay before fire filled the vehicle, blowing out the doors and windows. Edward smiled as they drove back and returned the group. Weber scribbled some notes on a paper and grumbled.

"Alright, Crusader, you gotta practice taking aim faster, be precise, you guys will mostly be shooting on the move, so you need to practice that. The Archer, nothing really of note, being there is only two of you, you will probably play a support role. For the Grizzly, I recommend you have APCR and high explosive rounds at the ready, the high explosive will be able to take out lightly armored tanks, and the APCR will be effective against more heavily armored tanks. The Pz. 39, same note as the crusader, your two tanks will be playing the flanks. The K-Wagen, we need to keep you guys driving at an angle, it will increase your effective thickness, and make sure one turret always has a target" Edward nodded and took note of the last sentence.

"What would you boys think of having a practice match?" Weber said and winced as he stretched his back. There was a long pause before Edward cleared his throat.

"I personally don't have an objection, anyone not up for it?"Everyone mumbled in agreeance in some form or another. "Okay boys, mount up..."

* * *

Edward wiggled in his chair a bit. He placed his headset over his head and tapped the button on the side.

"Alright, system check..." Edward sighed and waited for reply.

"Turret one is up and running."

"We are good to go on two."

"I got a second delay on turret three, I can manage."

"Four is doing fine."

Edward smiled, and spoke again. "Good, engine room, are you hearing me clearly."

"Yes sir I am, do a light check just in case we lose connection." Edward nodded and pulled on all the wires.

"Yeah, lights are good." The voice cracked back.

The K-Wagen was supposed to operate with a crew of twenty seven, but with some slightly updated equipment and a bit of hope, they could get her running with eight, four gunners, two loaders, one driver, and one commander. Edward was the commander, he had spent a solid week learning everything he could and installing an on board com system. Johnny, Walter, Mike, and Conrad were the gunners, all of them were good shots. Viktor and Nick were both the loaders, one for each gun room. Finally, Ludvig was the driver. Weber's voice came cracking over the radio.

"Excuse my lack of formalities, start the match." Edward nodded and pressed the button on the side of his headset.

"Start her up." Edward could hear the quiet sound of the crank turning.

"This is hard..." Ludvig wheezed into his headset and Edward chuckled. The crank turned quietly again but this time it was followed by the engines roar. He ordered the tank forward and they advanced through the forest, knocking over small tree's and dodging large ones that the K-Wagon couldn't easily crush. They reached an open field.

"Halt!" Edward yelled, having them stop on the tree line. He opened the hatch and pulled himself up. He looked around and saw a small dust cloud just beyond a small hill.

"Something is just over that rise...advance at a forty five degree angle to the right. That will put guns three and four on the side that the dust is coming from." Edward spun his chair as the tank rotated and slowly advanced into the field. Edward ducked his head down a bit as they continued the push forward. When they flanked around the hill Edward pulled up his binoculars. He peered into the dust cloud and snickered a bit. The Crusader and the Pz. 39 were chasing each other around, firing blindly as they tried to get on each others rear.

"Walter, do me a favor and blast one of those tanks."

"Affirmative." Edward watched as Walter tried to lead the shot. "Alright, I got the Crusader lined up...no wait, now its the Pz...fuck this is hard. They are too fast..." Edward paused.

"Load a high explosive. The shot will breakup their circling, then just pick off one with an armor piercing."

"Copy that." Edward smiled and waited for the new shell. The high explosive propelled itself from the barrel with a bang. Edward followed the shot and watched it collided into the center of the circling. Almost immediately the two tanks broke off and Edward waited for Walter to fire the follow up shot.

"Catch..." Walter mumbled and the second shot went off. Edward watched it crash through the side armor of the Crusader. The little flag popping out the top.

"GOOD SHOT!" Edward yelled and smiled. He watched as the Pz. 39 drove off. He heard a faint whistle and his smile faded. The whistle flowly filled the air and he he ducked down.

"BRACE YOURSEL-" The whistle drown out all noise and the tanked rocked to the side from an explosion. Edward fell out of his commander seat and fell to the floor. He stumbled up in a daze and heard a faint voice.

"What do we do!?" Ludvig yelled and Edward mumbled.

"Full reverse..." Edward rubbed his head, ringing in his ears. "Status report..."

"Turrets one and two are down. Our right side is completely compromised" Viktor yelled and Edward pulled himself into his chair.

* * *

"Awww, they are running..." Wilson said and sighed as the K-Wagen moved behind cover. Richard was next to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You hit them right?" Wilson nodded and took of sip of water.

"Yeah, probably took out two of the turrets...oh hold on...the Pz. 39 is right at the tree line, I'm gonna line them up..." Wilson said calmly and slowly adjusted the cannon. He did the math and reached down and grabbed a high explosive round, sliding it into the firing chamber and sighed. He took another sip of water and opened fire. Wilson looked away and grabbed another shell, putting it in the chamber. Wilson looked down the sights and saw the Pz. 39 billowing smoke, the flag waving from the top.

"That's how the cookie crumbles." Richard smiled. There was silence for a moment before it was broken by a bang, the Archer shook as if it had been hit by a train and flipped onto its side. Tossing both its occupants around like rag dolls before stopping it's rotation Wilson sighed as he heard the sound of the flag popping out the side of the tank. He reached over and grabbed his water bottle.

"And I guess that's how we crumble..." Wilson sighed and took a sip of water, looking at Richard.

* * *

Edward rubbed the side of his head as they pulled back into the trees. Once they got into cover, Edward groaned.

"Halt..." He slid out of the seat and staggered against the side of the tank. He made his way to the narrow passage and looked down. Johnny and Mike were unconscious, slumped over in the passage way. Victor was helping Nick, who was stumbling out of the first firing room.

"Ammo rack went off, turrets three and four are the only ones working..." Nick groaned and slumped against the wall, sliding down onto the floor. Edward nodded and coughed. He went back to the commander position and sighed, pulling himself back up. He poked his head out and scanned their surroundings. Edward pressed the button on his headset.

"We are all clear, if we turn right, we can go through the trees and out flank the Archer on the hill." The tank turned slowly and Edward guided it through the frees.

"Edward, can we please install a periscope in this, it would be so much easier to drive." Edward groaned and responded.

"Yeah, okay fine, we will see what we can do..." Edward looked around. "Just keep going straight, you got nothing in your way" They kept on their advance until they reached the position of the Archer, it was flipped over on its side , the small white flag waving in the wind.

"The Archer is already taken out..." The sound of cannon fire gave him pause when a shell bounced off of the ground in front of them. He ducked own and followed where the shot had came from. The Grizzly was behind a large rock and Edward yelled.

"ROTATE ONE EIGHTY DEGREES, THE TANK IS BEHIND A ROCK!" The K-Wagen slowly started to rotate as another round bounced of the frontal armor and up into the air.

"CONRAD, GET READY TO TAKE THE SHOT" Edward held his breath as they rotated. Conrad now had a shot and Edward crossed his fingers. They opened fire and the tank rocked to the side. It hit the Grizzly directly on its slopped armor and bounced off. Edward sighed and saw fire erupt from the Grizzly's barrel. Edward was able to let out one sigh before the round made impact. It hit the rear of the tank in the engine room and blew up. The rear of the tank lifted up a bit and Edward slammed his hand down, the little flag popping up next to him.

"That's the end of the match, the Grizzly wins" Weber grumbled over the headset. "If the Grizzly would be so kind, could you give everyone a ride back, Mr. Demo has a surprise for you."

Mr. Demo was standing next to Weber when the Grizzly pulled up. They jumped down onto the ground and Mr. Demo cleared his throat.

"Its good to see that you boys are improving. I have surprise." He opened a box that was sitting next to him. He pulled out a red military beret, he tossed it to Edward and Edward smiled. On the beret was blue metal pin, engraved was a image of the K-Wagen. Mr. Demo started to hand out the berets, each crew had an image of the tank on the pin.

"You got us uniforms?" Edward said and smiled. Mr. Demo nodded and also pulled out a brown and green camouflage jacket and some khaki pants. There were also some black boots, and a black scarf.

"Yes I did, hope you like them, because you will need to wear them soon." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"We will? Why" Mike asked.

"Well, seeing as it will be our first year entering for the tournament, we have to register in person so, the teams commander, and the sub-commander, and I have to fly out to japan. Edward paused for brief moment.

"Slight problem, we don't have either of those two people..." The group mumbled and Weber grumbled ad coughed.

"Then we might as well decide that now...Edward is the commander, and Simon is the sub-commander."

"What, why us?!" Simon said confused. Edward nodded and Weber sighed.

"You two are the best strategists on the team, that's why." Edward looked over at Simon. Simon McManus was tall, really tall, it was a marvel he even fit in a tank. He had brown hair that was slicked up in the front, and he always wore a pair of aviator sunglasses.

"Well I trust your judgement Mr. Weber."

"Hauptsturmführer Weber..."

"Yes okay...anyway, you boys get packed up, the rest of you, I want...Hauptsturmführer Weber, to instruct you and small unit tactics." Edward smiled and he looked over at Simon again, who grumbled something.

* * *

Edward felt the plane touch down and smiled. Simon was holding onto the arms of his chair and groaned. Mr. Demo woke with a jolt and mumbled incoherently before saying.

"We're here boys...what...what time is it?" Edward sighed and stretched a bit as the plane began to slow.

"Stewardess said it was six fifteen...five minutes ago, so its six twenty." Mr. Demo started to change his watch and the plane came to a stop. The Stewardess unbuckled and stood up.

"Thank you for flying Pan Am, it is currently six twenty two pm in Sendai. I hope you enjoyed your flight. Pan Am o tonde kurete arigatō. Genzai Sendai dew-" Edward tuned out the the woman talking, unbuckled and stood up. Simon did as well and pushed past Edward, running to the planes washroom.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Mr. Demo asked and yawned, standing up.

"He is just afraid of heights, he will be fine in a bit." Edward sighed and leaned against the seat. A minute later Simon came out of the washroom and groaned.

"You okay?" Edward asked.

"Yeah...I'm okay...I'm good." Simon nodded and grabbed his overhead luggage. Edward did as well and past Mr. Demo his as well . They got off the plane and walked around the airport, trying to navigate to baggage claim. When they finally found the baggage claim, there were only three bags. A man in a suit was putting them on a cart.

"Sir! Those are ours!" Edward yelled and ran over to the man. He turned and looked at them.

"Kore wa anata no monodesu ka? He said and motioned to the bags. Edward nodded.

"Those are ours..." Edward pointed to himself and the others. the man nodded and handed them their bags.

"Thank you." Mr. Demo said and went for a handshake. the man bowed. "Oh...umm." Mr. Demo looked a bit awkward and looked at Edward, who just shrugged. They left the airport.

Mr. Demo rented a car and they drove to Tokyo and pulled up at a hotel. They stepped out of the car and Mr. Demo checked the group in.

"You two are in room one ten, I'm in one eleven, be ready to leave at nine o'clock. We gotta be at the JSK building at eleven and I have no idea what traffic is gonna be like, and be in uniform. " Edward nodded and Simon yawned. The two went to their rooms and Edward sighed, sitting on one of the beds.

"So what do you wanna do, watch T.V.? Find a movie?" Simon shook his head and set his bag on the other bed.

"What's the point, it's all in Japanese anyways, we don't exactly speak the language." Edward frowned and Simon sighed.

"I'm taking a shower then I am gonna go to bed. You can do whatever you want." Edward nodded and laid down on the bed. He grabbed his phone and plugged it in. Edward put in some ear buds and started to watch some youtube. He looked up video's of the teams the participated. He didn't even take notice of the fact that Simon had went to bed, and when Edward checked the alarm clock next, it was two o'clock.

"Oh...it's pretty late...guess I can go to bed." He mumbled to himself and set his phone down. He laid down and sighed. When Edward woke up, Simon was shaking him.

"Get up Edward!" Simon yelled and shook his again. Edward opened his eyes and grumbled. Simon was already in uniform.

"What...huh...what time is it?" Edward sat up and looked around dazed.

"It's eight thirty." Edward sat straight up, suddenly fully awake.

"Half an hour!" He jumped out of the bed and stumbled over to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and put on deodorant. Edward then ran out to his bag, opened it, grabbed his uniform, ran back to the wash room and put it on. He stopped to look in the mirror and smiled.

"This uniform looks good." He smiled and adjusted his jacket, noticing the schools emblem of three white stars on a blue circle on the sleeve.

"Edward, lets go!" Simon yelled and banged on the door. Edward jumped a bit and turned off the lights.

"Yeah, okay yeah." Edward opened the door. Simon was leaning on the wall, chewing some gum.

"Slowpoke..." Edward frowned and opened the door of the room. The two walked into the lobby, where Mr. Demo was reading the newspaper on his tablet.

"Took you boys long enough, we gotta go."

"Yeah sorry, Simon was taking forever." Simon kicked Edward in the shin.

"Owww, jeez fine, I woke up late..." Mr. Demo shook his head and the group went to the rental car. They drove across the city, getting stuck in traffic along the way. When they finally reached the Japan Sensha-Dō Federation headquarters, Edward looked out the window and smiled up at the building.

"Wow...look at that." The building was far outside of the city, surrounded by trees. It looked like a rich mans mansion, painted pure white, but it was so much more. A fence surrounded the court yard, and a tank that Edward couldn't quite make out sat in the middle. Mr. Demo mumbled under his breath.

"I still can't believe we are doing this..." Edward rolled his eyes as they found a parking space outside. "Here we go."

"Relax, it'll be fine." Simon said and sighed.

"Sure it will, I am a Greek man in charge of failure of a school signing up a team full of mostly European boys for an all female sport in Japan. What could go wrong?" Edward chuckled as they opened the doors of the car.

"Well for an adult, you are pretty funny." Edward remarked and Mr. Demo laughed a bit.

"Lets just go, you two are making me sick." Simon mumbled, leaning on a light post. Mr. Demo waved them the forward as he led the way into the building. the group entered the open gate and Edward paused, looking a the tank in the court yard.

"Simon! Look, that's a Whippet!" Simon rolled his eyes.

"I really don't care." Simon mumbled and Edward frowned. Mr. Demo walked up the few steps to the door and knocked on it. Edward could here shuffling inside before the door swung open. A woman stepped out the door and smiled, Edward recognized her almost immediately from Tankery matches he had seen on television. She had short black hair, a pretty smile, and hard black eyes. She was wearing a JGSDF uniform and spoke to them in fluent English - thank god- her Japanese accent adding flavor to every word she spoke.

"We have been expecting you, I'm Ami Chōno, you must be Mr. Demo, and these two are..." She paused as she looked at the two boys. "Oh, I'm sorry, there must have been a misunderstanding. We said to bring your teams commander and sub-commander, maybe you mis-" Edward cut her off.

"And we showed up, we understood the email just fine." Edward smiled as she took a moment to realize what was going on.

"Oh...I...please step inside." She stepped aside for them to go in. "I assume you can understand why this is a bit confusing." Simon sighed and remarked sarcastically.

"I haven't the faintest idea." Simon grumbled and Edward elbowed him in the side.

"Don't be daft!"Simon frowned and Ami motioned for them to follow. She walked up a stair case and Simon raised his sunglasses, his mouth open just a bit.

"Damn..." Edward shook his head.

"Simon, have some respect." Simon lowered his glasses and frowned. Mr. Demo followed her up the stairs and Edward followed. Simon sighed and followed close behind. She was waiting for them at the top of the stairs near a door, she was no longer smiling, having obliviously heard Simon's comment. She opened the door.

"Please, you first." Mr. Demo nodded and Edward walked in, saying to her as he passed.

"Excuse my friend" She nodded and as Simon walked in, he made finger guns at her and a clicking noise with his mouth. Edward stuck his foot out behind him and kicked Simon in the crotch. He wheezed and crumpled to the floor.

"You son of a!" He croaked. Edward rolled his eyes and turned, a man was staring directly at him, and it made Edward's blood run cold. He was tall and well built. He was bald, and had a thin mustache. He wore dark robes and was holding a small white fan. It seemed like his brow eyes were judging every ounce of Edward's character.

"Miss Chōno? Who is this young man?" The man motioned to Edward.

"I don't know either sir, he has yet to be introduced to me too." Edward cleared his throat.

"My name is Edward Lewis, I'm seventeen, I'm from Wales, and, I'm the commander of my Tankery team." The man nodded and sat down.

"You are the commander, that is very interesting Mr. Lewis." He paused. "And where is your team?"

"Well I would assume they are somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Do you believe your team is ready for the tournament. Who trained your team?"

"My team is as ready as it will ever be once they reach Japan, and were trained by my friends grandfather, her operated a tank in world war two."

"And how many tanks do you have."

"We have five sir."

"What are your five tanks?

"We have a Grizzly, a Crusader Mk III, a Pz. 39, an Archer, and a Großkampfwagen." The man raised his eyebrows.

"A Großkampfwagen? Well I would very much like to see that when it arrives. I have the paper work you need to sign, and we will get you worked into the tournament." Ami spoke.

"Director sir, are we not going to address that their team is..well."

"Miss Chōno, I was already perfectly aware that their team is all boys, I have the internet...are you suggesting that we should not let a team that has come half way around the world compete simple because they-"

"No sir, I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect. I just thought that you would have more to say about it."He sighed and smiled.

"I think it is wonderful, you said before that the tournament could use some diversity, and some boys from around the world are the perfect team to do that. Now...I will get you your paper work." Edward smiled and looked over at Mr. Demo, who was fiddling with pencil. The director placed some papers on the desk and pointed.

"Mr. Demo, you sign here, and Mr. Lewis, you sign here." Mr Demo grabbed a pen and signed on the line, Edward took the the pen and signed as well.

"Now, has your team had a practice match against another team." Edward shook head.

"No, and the rest of the team won't be in japan till right before the tournament, the ship needs to refuel in Vancouver before it crosses the pacific." The man nodded.

"Well, you might be in luck, Ooarai Girls High School is on a cargo run and they might be able to have a practice match with you." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"Ooarai won the tournament last year. That would hardly be fair." The man sighed.

"I'm sorry, but if you want a practice match, they are the only team that could have a match with you." Edward paused and sighed.

"Well that settles it." Mr Demo stood up and sighed, the director stood up as well, they shook hands.

"Yes sir it does, welcome to the league, we will look forward to an interesting match"

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 **((Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review and tell me what you think. And next chapter, well all I can say is, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas))**


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